SENATE RESOLUTION 8647 By Senators Sheldon, Frockt, Brown, Conway, Wellman, Nguyen, Wagoner, Kuderer, Liias, Wilson, C., and Wilson, L. 1 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma was born in Kankakee, Illinois, and grew up 2 in the rural Illinois town of Wichert; and 3 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma played college basketball at Illinois 4 Wesleyan University, a small college located in Bloomington, 5 Illinois; and 6 WHEREAS, During his four seasons at Illinois Wesleyan, Jack Sikma 7 was a three-time NAIA All-American, and averaged 27 points and 15.4 8 rebounds a game as a senior; and 9 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma remains Illinois Wesleyan's all-time leading 10 scorer and rebounder, averaging 21.2 points and 13.1 rebounds; and 11 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics with 12 the eighth overall selection of the 1977 National Basketball 13 Association draft; and 14 WHEREAS, When the then-unknown Sikma was drafted, the headline 15 for a Seattle newspaper story about his selection read, "Jack Who?"; 16 and 17 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma began the 1977-78 season as a reserve but was 18 inserted into the Sonics' starting lineup after Lenny Wilkens 19 replaced Bob Hopkins as head coach when the team began the season 20 with a 5-17 record; and 21 WHEREAS, The Sonics' revamped lineup of Jack Sikma and John 22 Johnson at forwards, Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson at guards and 23 Marvin Webster at center helped spark an amazing turnaround that p. 1 8647 1 allowed the team to post a 47-35 regular season record and 2 playoff series wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, the defending 3 NBA champion Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets 4 before the Sonics lost in seven games to the Washington Bullets 5 in the 1978 NBA Finals; and 6 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma was named to the NBA's 1977-78 All- 7 Rookie team; and 8 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma became the Sonics' center during the 9 1978-79 season, averaged 15.6 points and 12.4 rebounds, and 10 played in the 1979 NBA All-Star Game along with Dennis Johnson, 11 one of the seven straight All-Star games in which Sikma 12 appeared; and 13 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma, along with the rest of the team's core 14 of Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson, John Johnson, Lonnie Shelton, 15 Fred Brown, and Paul Silas, helped the Sonics return to the 1979 16 NBA Finals after defeating the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns 17 earlier in the playoffs; and 18 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma and the Sonics avenged the previous 19 year's heartbreaking loss to the Bullets, as Seattle defeated 20 Washington in five games to win the 1979 NBA Championship, with 21 Sikma scoring the final points in the Sonics' 97-93 series- 22 clinching victory on the Bullets' home court on June 1, 1979; 23 and 24 WHEREAS, The Sonics' 1979 NBA Championship was Seattle's 25 first major sports title since the Seattle Metropolitans won the 26 1917 Stanley Cup; and 27 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma played with the Sonics for six more 28 seasons, helping lead the team to four playoff berths during 29 that period, before he was traded in 1986 to the Milwaukee 30 Bucks; and 31 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma played five seasons with the Milwaukee 32 Bucks, helping lead them to the playoffs in each of those 33 seasons; and 34 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma retired in 1991, ending a 14-year NBA 35 career that saw him average 15.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.2 36 assists per game, and shoot 84.9 percent from the free throw 37 line; and p. 2 8647 1 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma returned to the sideline in 2003 as an 2 assistant coach with the Sonics until 2007, followed by 3 assistant coaching jobs with the Houston Rockets and Minnesota 4 Timberwolves; and 5 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma is now a coaching consultant for the 6 Toronto Raptors; and 7 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma's Number 43 jersey was retired by the 8 Sonics, one of only six players to be so honored by the team; 9 and 10 WHEREAS, Jack Sikma is a member of the NAIA 50th and 75th 11 All-Anniversary Teams; and 12 WHEREAS, It was recently announced that Jack Sikma is part 13 of the 2019 class that will be inducted into the Naismith 14 Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, 15 on September 6th; 16 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State 17 Senate congratulate Jack Sikma on his selection to the Naismith 18 Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and thank Jack for his many 19 seasons as a valuable and beloved member of the Seattle 20 SuperSonics. 21 I, Brad Hendrickson, Secretary of the Senate, 22 do hereby certify that this is a true and 23 correct copy of Senate Resolution 8647, 24 adopted by the Senate 25 April 18, 2019 26 BRAD HENDRICKSON 27 Secretary of the Senate p. 3 8647.